Obsidian General Discussion Thread

[Duraframe300]

Backspace can't be Vermont, considering Stormlands was cancelled by Microsoft in early 2012 and Backspace was apparently cancelled in April 2011.

1 Delaware - Knights of the Old Republic II
2 Pennsylvania - Neverwinter Nights II
3 New Jersey - Dwarves
4 Georgia - Alpha Protocol
5 Connecticut - Aliens: Crucible
6 Massachusetts - Mask of the Betrayer
7 Maryland - Dungeon Siege III
8 South Carolina - Storm of Zehir
9 New Hampshire - Fallout: New Vegas
10 Virginia - Backspace
11 New York - South Park: The Stick of Truth
12 North Carolina - Stormlands
13 Rhode Island - Prey 2
14 Vermont - XBLA Action RPG? MCA's project?
15 Kentucky - Brian Heins' Project
16 Tennessee - Armored Warfare
17 Ohio - Pathfinder Card Game
18 Louisiana - Pillars of Eternity 2? UE4 prototype?

I don't think Louisiana can be Brian Heins' project because that booklet looks like a design document. It's also a project in development since what, 2012? Why would they be making these now?
On the other hand, Josh also says "now is the tyme" in his post. Maybe that means it's time to reveal the project, but if a project from 2012 is Louisiana, Obsidian has a handful of other cancelled/secret project we don't know anything about.

You're making some stuff up there. We know for sure that South Park was New York and not Virginia

Easy there pal, I didn't know that, just tried to make it fit the timeline.

A: Either could have started earlier. I know Vermont was Backspace as it was mentioned as Jason Faders project in the link. And Backspace WAS Jason Faders project.
B: No, January 2014 - Post Armored Warfare. It fits. Directly after Brian Heins came off South Park.
C: What Infi said. AW is Ohio.

 

[Duraframe300]

I also know Virginia was the XBLA project. I can't find the link but I was originally there when we unearthed it.

 

[Fairfax]

Yeah, Brian Heins' Linkedin lists a project that began on 02/14.

1 Delaware - Knights of the Old Republic II
2 Pennsylvania - Neverwinter Nights II
3 New Jersey - Dwarves
4 Georgia - Alpha Protocol
5 Connecticut - Aliens: Crucible
6 Massachusetts - Mask of the Betrayer
7 Maryland - Dungeon Siege III
8 South Carolina - Storm of Zehir
9 New Hampshire - Fallout: New Vegas
10 Virginia - XBLA Action RPG
11 New York - South Park: The Stick of Truth
12 North Carolina - Stormlands
13 Rhode Island - Prey 2
14 Vermont - Backspace
15 Kentucky - MCA's Project?
16 Tennessee - Pathfinder Card Game
17 Ohio - Armored Warfare
18 Louisiana - Brian Heins'/Stormlands Reloaded?
19 Indiana - UE4 Prototype
20 Mississippi - Pillars of Eternity II

Damn, and I thought Rare had too many cancelled projects.

I also know Virginia was the XBLA project. I can't find the link but I was originally there when we unearthed it back on the Obs forums.

Well, it's also the only (known) possibility left anyway.

 

[agris]

Can you guys add months (when possible) and years next to the game names?

 

[Fairfax]

1 Delaware - Knights of the Old Republic II [2003-2004]
2 Pennsylvania - Neverwinter Nights II [2004-2006]
3 New Jersey - Dwarves [2005-2007?
4 Georgia - Alpha Protocol [2006-2010]
5 Connecticut - Aliens: Crucible [2006-2009]
6 Massachusetts - Mask of the Betrayer [2006-2007]
7 Maryland - Dungeon Siege III [2007?-2011] (Honestly, I'm not sure this adds up, but since it comes from a former employee..]
8 South Carolina - Storm of Zehir [2007-2008]
9 New Hampshire - Fallout: New Vegas [2009-2010]
10 Virginia - XBLA Action RPG [2009-2011] (this codex thread seems to have people talking about an action game that fits the description, and there's also the interview linked below)
11 New York - South Park: The Stick of Truth [2009-2014]
12 North Carolina - Stormlands* [2010-2012]
13 Rhode Island - Prey 2 [2010-?]
14 Vermont - Backspace [2010-2011]
15 Kentucky - MCA's Project? [???-???] (Just a heavily implied/rumoured new IP, could be something else)
16 Tennessee - Pathfinder Card Game* [2013-2015]
17 Ohio - Armored Warfare [2013-2016]
18 Louisiana - Brian Heins'/Stormlands Reloaded? [2014-???] (TBA soon)
19 Indiana - UE4 Prototype (recently mentioned by Feargus, sounded like a very early WIP)
20 Mississippi - Pillars of Eternity II (right after TWM2, could be a separate thing and not a 'state' project if it's crowdfunded)

(Cancelled)

* "We have a great idea for a new world we've just started pitching to publishers and we have an older pitch that we really like called "Defiance" which is about a fantasy world where, basically, Sauron won." Feargus back in February 2011
That's basically what we know about the setting, and it seems fairly logical that Defiance was one of the different names for the North Carolina/Stormlands project. I'm thinking the other one was Backspace, because of this period and description.
He also mentions the XBLA game in the same interview: "We're also working on an original IP XBLA game. so that hopefully will be out first quarter next year."
Bonus:

It'll be an action RPG that's focused on fun, not Dungeon Siege, it's quite a bit different in a different genre with a different camera.

We also might throw our hat in the whole free-to-play thing. In the game industry there's a lot of different opportunities for all different kinds of products.

**The Paizo-Obsidian partnership was only announced in 2014, and Armored Warfare is confirmed to be Ohio, so it's possible the Pathfinder Card Game is actually Project Indiana and Tennessee is another cancelled project we don't know about. I looked for forum posts and there isn't a single mention of Project Tennessee anywhere.

 

[Duraframe300]

No, Stormlands wasn't Defiance (AFAIK). Defiance was pitched around 2008 and had no publisher picked it up. IIRC to Square as well before DSIII happened. I THINK that it went nowhere, but maybe.... Theres another comment regarding the game that cleared some things up, but I'd need to look for it.

And Backspace was Backspace. From the beginning Jason Faders baby and a seperate thing. The next step in the Bethesda partnership. Stormlands was Microsoft. You're a bit eager there to combine two different projects.

The Paizo-Obsidian partnership was pretty much immediatly announced. Nathan or Feargus talked about how the ink wasn't even really dry.

 

[Infinitron]

Duraframe's list is the authoritative one, everything else is Fairfaxian conjecture.

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...discussion-thread.84849/page-108#post-4255497

Putting it in the OP

 

[Fairfax]

It's the same list, except I tried to fill the gaps.
Also, the link to the interview is broken, here it is.

No, Stormlands wasn't Defiance (AFAIK). Defiance was pitched around 2008 and had no publisher picked it up. IIRC to Square as well before DSIII happened. I THINK that it went nowhere, but maybe.... Theres another comment regarding the game that cleared some things up, but I'd need to look for it.

And Backspace was Backspace. From the beginning Jason Faders baby and a seperate thing. The next step in the Bethesda partnership. Stormlands was Microsoft. You're a bit eager there to combine two different projects.

The Paizo-Obsidian partnership was pretty much immediatly announced. Nathan or Feargus talked about how the ink wasn't even really dry.

I thought it was Stormlands because there was no candidate left from the same time period. If it's from 2008-2009, then it can only be Virginia.
Also, the rumor is that they only worked on Prey 2 for a very brief period, and it wasn't something they created at first, maybe it never had a codename?

 

[DosBuster]

Wait, Obsidian had prey 2? What? Source?

 

[Fairfax]

But today, the Prey 2 fan site Alien Noire is reporting the same thing we've heard: that Arkane's Austin-based studio is now working on the game. What's more, they're reporting details that weren't sent to us by the original tipster, like the fact that the developers at the California-based Obsidian (South Park: The Stick of Truth) were working on Prey 2 at one point, and that the England-based studio Rebellion (Rogue Warrior) turned down the opportunity to make the troubled sci-fi shooter. Both Obsidian and Rebellion have worked with Bethesda in the past.

I'd already heard whispers about the connections to both Obsidian and Rebellion before, which lends some legitimacy to Alien Noire's rumor. I haven't been able to corroborate the Rebellion connection, but I've confirmed that Obsidian did indeed work on the game at some point.

Kotaku (don't worry, it's archived, no clicks for them)

 

[Fairfax]

More Fairfaxian Conjecture™, this is from J.D Cerince, an artist who worked on both North Carolina and Virginia:

1 is called "Space Ape model", and it's probably from Project Virginia.
2 is "Automata Defender", and it fits the same art style (and probably the setting).
3 is just "Render", but I'd guess it's from North Carolina.
4 is "Chakram", which is an indian throwing weapon. Slightly more realistic design and fits a fantasy setting, probably NC.
5 is "Weather Station". Looks a lot more sci-fi-y, so probably Virginia.

 

[Duraframe300]

It's the same list, except I tried to fill the gaps.
Also, the link to the interview is broken, here it is.

No, Stormlands wasn't Defiance (AFAIK). Defiance was pitched around 2008 and had no publisher picked it up. IIRC to Square as well before DSIII happened. I THINK that it went nowhere, but maybe.... Theres another comment regarding the game that cleared some things up, but I'd need to look for it.

And Backspace was Backspace. From the beginning Jason Faders baby and a seperate thing. The next step in the Bethesda partnership. Stormlands was Microsoft. You're a bit eager there to combine two different projects.

The Paizo-Obsidian partnership was pretty much immediatly announced. Nathan or Feargus talked about how the ink wasn't even really dry.

I thought it was Stormlands because there was no candidate left from the same time period. If it's from 2008-2009, then it can only be Virginia.
Also, the rumor is that they only worked on Prey 2 for a very brief period, and it wasn't something they created at first, maybe it never had a codename?

It was a pitch that never went beyond that stage. It didn't get a codename. (Backspace got a prototype at least and was considered a project until Bethesda said Nope)

I agree on Prey 2. No idea what rhode island was.

 

[DosBuster]

At most Obsidian would of simply pitched their own vision for Prey 2, Beth did the same thing with Rogue Warrior shipped it out to another developer, still turned out shit though.

 

[Killzig]

I wouldn't mind seeing them do a Science Fiction RPG that was in the vein of Aliens. That is, space colonization/exploitation in its infancy. Though I think that's the new angle the Mass Effect series is taking with Andromeda.

 

[Immortal]

I wouldn't mind seeing them do a Science Fiction RPG that was in the vein of Aliens. That is, space colonization/exploitation in its infancy. Though I think that's the new angle the Mass Effect series is taking with Andromeda.

Some how I don't think it's gonna live up to the potential of that setting.

 

[Killzig]

Yeah, not if they're going with stuff like this.

This looks like it was left on the cutting room floor of some ill-fated Sonic spin-off. Or did you mean Andromeda? A bioware game not living up to the setting ... that would be unexpected.

 

[Ninjerk]

So are they actually making a goofy-looking MOBA?

 

[Duraframe300]

Yeah, not if they're going with stuff like this.

This looks like it was left on the cutting room floor of some ill-fated Sonic spin-off. Or did you mean Andromeda? A bioware game not living up to the setting ... that would be unexpected.

The XBLA Game wasn't a serious game. Just a small indie Hack n' Slasher.

 

[Fairfax]

 

[Infinitron]

"Inexplicably"?

 

[Duraframe300]

"Inexplicably"?

Yeah, it kinda is.

At least I don't know any order that would put trenton first on the list so even as a seperate thing it doesn't make much sense.

 

[Fairfax]

It's probably named after the Battle of Trenton. The US army was taking a beating before that and were crumbling. That victory pretty much turned things around, etc. It's a metaphor for Obsidian's dire situation before the Kickstarter campaign.

 

[Roguey]

Yeah, not if they're going with stuff like this.

This looks like it was left on the cutting room floor of some ill-fated Sonic spin-off. Or did you mean Andromeda? A bioware game not living up to the setting ... that would be unexpected.

The XBLA Game wasn't a serious game. Just a small indie Hack n' Slasher.

As hacky and slashy as truckers in spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace can get anyway.

 

[agris]

"Inexplicably"?

Yeah, it kinda is.

At least I don't know any order that would put trenton first on the list so even as a seperate thing it doesn't make much sense.

That's part of the rational for asking you to add the month/year of inception/announcement next to the titles.

 

[Fry]

It's probably named after the Battle of Trenton.

I'm assuming JES had his face buried in books on medieval magic during US history class. Not that I blame him.